Group of clergy to hold anti-Amendment One event tomorrow

People of Faith for Just Relationships (PFJR) will hold a press conference on Thursday, April 19th, at 12:00 noon in the sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, One Edwin Place, Asheville 28801. Clergy and laity from local faith communities, including Presbyterian, the Jubilee! Community, Baptist, Reform and Conservative Judaism, the United Church of Christ, the Mother Goddess Grove Temple, Lutheran, Episcopalian, the Ethical Society, and Unitarian Universalists, will speak against the proposed amendment to North Carolina’s constitution, highlighting its potential harms to families and children.

The North Carolina legislature rejected all previous attempts to amend the state’s constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, and same-sex marriage is already illegal in the state. The amendment, however, would not just write discrimination against lesbian or gay couples into the state’s constitution; it would affect unmarried heterosexual couples as well, leaving the courts to rule in child custody matters, on domestic violence protections, in visitation and end-of-life decisions, and on issues of real estate and inheritance. According to the Constitutional
Amendments Publication Commission, the term “domestic legal union” is not defined in state law; therefore, protracted and expensive litigation is inevitable if the state’s constitution is amended. Such legal procedures create an emotional burden on families and, especially, on children. PFJR urges North Carolina citizens to vote against Amendment One.

PFJR was instrumental in making Asheville’s domestic partners’ registry a reality last year. That institution is threatened if North Carolina voters ratify Amendment One on May 8th. It is PFJR’s on-going work to create a society that affords legal recognition to relationships that do not fall within the amendment’s narrow definition. Therefore, on Saturday, April 21st, beginning at 12:30 pm, PFJR will host an Interfaith Prayer Service at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 20 Oak Street, Asheville 28801, followed by a march to an early voting site.